Warehouse storm

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Adolf Frank department store around 1899

The so-called department store storm on Saturday, March 11, 1933 in Braunschweig was a violent action against "Jewish department stores" initiated by the National Socialist leadership of the Free State of Braunschweig , organized by SA and SS member Friedrich Alpers and NSDAP interior minister Dietrich Klagges and by SA and SS was supported or carried out.

The “department store storm” was - shortly after the “ seizure of power ” by the National Socialists on January 30, 1933 - a first, albeit covertly staged, action against Jews in Braunschweig. It mainly affected the Adolf Frank department stores (Schuhstrasse 28, corner of Stephanstrasse 1), the Karstadt located exactly opposite and the Hamburger & Littauer clothing store on Kohlmarkt .

Two days earlier, on March 9, this event had already been preceded by an action against the local SPD in which the Volksfreund-Haus , the editorial building of the SPD newspaper, was occupied by the SS. Not only was the interior destroyed, but there was also considerable excesses of violence against people, with one employee being shot.

Preparation and staging

In the morning, Alpers spoke to SS members gathered there in the “Stadt Helmstedt” restaurant and announced an “action against Jewish businesses” . The SS should appear in civilian clothes in order not to be recognized as an SS. The aim is to stage the whole thing as a spontaneous outbreak of popular anger, in the hope of being able to sweep away the previously undecided. Then everything should be blamed on "the communists ".

procedure

On the late afternoon of March 11, 1933, at around 5:00 p.m., the SA held a concert on the Kohlmarkt, to which a large crowd was listening. At an agreed signal, however, a number of (mostly male) “civilians” suddenly streamed from Kohlmarkt into the nearby Schuhstrasse to the Adolf Frank and Karstadt department stores. At both houses, especially at Frank, numerous large shop windows with stones they had brought with them were thrown in, while other "civilians" stormed the business premises and destroyed the interior. There was also mistreatment of customers.

Before the action, Klagges had instructed the commander of the Braunschweig police force, Selle, by telephone to keep his people out of the area around the Kohlmarkt and not to hinder the action, units alerted by passers-by, residents and customers only appeared when the attack-like action was long over was.

The crowd had z. Some of them returned to the Kohlmarkt and again listened to the SA concert. After a short time, Alpers appeared accompanied by the NSDAP district leader of the Free State of Kurt Schmalz . Alpers stood in front of the crowd and called for peace and order and condemned what had happened, for which he blamed “communist disturbances” . The crowd then dispersed, not without first throwing in a number of shop windows at the Hamburger & Littauer clothing store, which is located directly on the Kohlmarkt.

A son of Gustav-Elias Forstenzer , one of the two owners of the Adolf Frank department store, illegally took photos of the destruction shortly after the attack. The department stores had to remain closed for a while to repair the damage.

Political background

In its party program , the NSDAP called for the "immediate communalization of large department stores and letting them to small traders at cheap prices" , thereby serving the need to protect small and medium- sized enterprises from financially strong competition. The National Socialist company cell organization as well as the Kampfbund for the commercial middle class under Theodor Adrian von Renteln called for the closure of all department stores , the uniform price stores , consumer cooperatives and chain stores . The agitation resulted in the 1920's as well as 1932 repeated correspondingly motivated graffiti and attacks on department stores.

An empire-wide wave of boycott measures against department stores, which were mainly run by Jewish owners, was triggered on March 5, 1933 by a call in the " Völkischer Beobachter ", the party organ of the NSDAP. The actions were initially directed equally “against Jewish companies as well as undesirable forms of business” . In the days that followed, there were human chains in front of department stores, tumult, destruction and physical abuse of staff and customers, not only in large cities such as Berlin, Wroclaw or Leipzig, but also in Magdeburg, Kassel, Pirmasens and Dessau. These actions were not without effect: On March 18, 1933, the trade tax for department stores was doubled and a municipal tax for branch operations was introduced. On March 21, 1933, Hitler's economic policy advisor , Otto Wagener , forced the resignation of the presidium of the "Association of German Department Stores" . On July 7, 1933, shortly after Wagener's disempowerment, Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess forbade any further action against department stores so as not to endanger jobs there and with suppliers. By now at the latest the general “anti-department store propaganda” had ended and it had been switched to a purely anti-Semitic line. Further actions, which reached a new high point in the summer and autumn of 1935, were directed exclusively against the department stores of Jewish owners.

However, the demand anchored in the party program of the NSDAP to abolish the department stores repeatedly led to corresponding advances and discussions within the party. In 1940 a last attempt to obtain a decision from Hitler failed, since "a liquidation of the department stores and consumer associations is not acceptable at the present time".

consequences

From the perspective of the Braunschweig National Socialists, the “department store tower” was a success in the city. On the one hand it was possible to deceive the population (at least temporarily) about the perpetrator or perpetrator, because in the Braunschweiger and Wolfenbüttel newspapers it was reported that Alpers had spoken soothingly towards the crowd and that “communists” were suspected of the act. On the other hand, the political and economic pressure on "the Jews" was increased. The immediately following nationwide boycott of Jews , other anti-Jewish laws, ordinances and " Aryanizations " forced emigrations in the period that followed.

Examples of aryanizations:

  • The clothing store Hamburger & Littauer changed hands and was called "Rosbach & Risse" from May 1, 1933, the "Aryan" managing director was Friedrich Wilhelm Risse († 1967) who joined the company in 1932.
  • The same happened in 1936 with the men's clothing store Schröder & Co. (Damm 40, part of Hamburger & Littauer), which was called Cloppenburg from March 7, 1936.
  • The Adolf Frank department store was opened in 1938, shortly after the so-called " Reichskristallnacht " on 9/10. November, "Aryanized" and was henceforth called "Stöber". The new owner, Karl Stöber (1905–1960), ran the company until his death in 1960.

In this way, between 1933 and 1938, numerous former “Jewish companies” changed hands throughout the German Reich into the hands of new, “Aryan” owners, mostly at a price that was well below market value . In these cases, the buyers were often owners of local competing companies.

literature

  • Reinhard Bein (Ed.): Jews in Braunschweig 1900–1945. Materials on national history. 2nd Edition. German-Israelite Society, Braunschweig 1988.
  • Bert Bilzer , Richard Moderhack (eds.): BRUNSVICENSIA JUDAICA. Memorial book for the Jewish fellow citizens of the city of Braunschweig 1933–1945. Waisenhaus Verlag, Braunschweig 1966 ( Braunschweiger Werkstücke. 35, ISSN  0175-338X ).
  • Manfred RW Garzmann, Wolf-Dieter Schuegraf, Norman-Mathias Pingel: Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon. Supplementary volume. Meyer, Braunschweig 1996, ISBN 3-926701-30-7 .
  • Bernhild Vögel: ... and in Braunschweig? Materials and tips for exploring the city 1930–1945. 2nd updated edition. JURB, Braunschweig 1996, ISBN 3-9801592-2-1 ( JURB materials 2).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Bernhild Vögel: … and in Braunschweig? Materials and tips for exploring the city 1930–1945. 2nd updated edition, Braunschweig 1996, p. 54.
  2. ↑ a b c Reinhard Bein: Jews in Braunschweig 1900–1945. 2nd Edition. Braunschweig 1988, p. 53.
  3. ↑ Horst-Rüdiger Jarck, Gerhard Schildt (Ed.): Braunschweigische Landesgeschichte. A region looking back over the millennia. Appelhans, Braunschweig 2000, ISBN 3-930292-28-9 , p. 982.
  4. ↑ Reinhard Bein: Jews in Braunschweig 1900–1945. 2nd Edition. Braunschweig 1988, p. 53.
  5. ↑ Walther Hofer : The National Socialism. Documents 1933-1945. fiTB, Frankfurt am Main 1977, ISBN 3-596-26084-1 , p. 29, § 16.
  6. ↑ Detlef Briesen: Department store, mass consumption and social morality. On the history of consumer criticism in the 20th century. Campus-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main et al. 2001, ISBN 3-593-36730-0 , p. 70.
  7. ↑ Detlef Briesen: Warenhaus ..., p. 70.
  8. ↑ Heinz Höhne : The time of illusions. Hitler and the beginnings of the Third Reich. 1933-1936. Econ-Verlag, Düsseldorf et al. 1991, ISBN 3-430-14760-3 , p. 79.
  9. ↑ Heinz Höhne: The time of illusions ... p. 100.
  10. ↑ Heinz Höhne: The time of illusions. P. 117.
  11. ↑ Detlef Briesen: Department store ... p. 71.
  12. ↑ Waiting attitude of the NSDAP to department stores 1940 (accessed April 4, 2008)
  13. ↑ a b Bernhild Vögel: … and in Braunschweig? Materials and tips for exploring the city 1930–1945. 2nd updated edition. Braunschweig 1996, p. 52.
  14. ↑ Garzmann, Schuegraf, Pingel: Braunschweiger Stadtlexikon. Supplementary volume. Braunschweig 1996, p. 47.